Early in my career, I had a conversation with a colleague in which I proudly stated:
“I will get so much repeat business, and positive word of mouth, because of my total commitment to customer satisfaction.”
This sounded like a normal, yet worthy goal, right?
My colleague snorted, and said “That’s not so special, Alan. Everyone is committed to customer satisfaction. What if you re-framed that goal as a total commitment to client success?”
Well, that makes sense.
Focusing on “satisfaction” is very in-the-moment; it’s short-term, not long-term thinking. It’s self-centered, not others-centered. And, it focuses on immediate emotion, not meeting needs.
If you are a needs-meeting leader, focus instead on the long-term success of others.
The satisfaction part will naturally follow, and it will be deep.
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